Faith unlocks understanding. In this episode, we explore how to access Jesus’ intelligence in daily life — from navigating challenges to making smart decisions. Discover why trusting in wisdom from above surpasses human reasoning. Real knowledge of the Holy One is the ultimate source of insight and understanding for life.

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See the full episode transcript below.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

The Backdrop of a Turbulent World

As I record this episode on September 18, 2025, it has been a tumultuous stretch in America and around the globe. Our world is broken and in desperate need of the regeneration Jesus promised — the new heavens and the new earth.

Recent events highlight this brokenness. America was shaken by the political assassination of Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah. In Charlotte, North Carolina, a young Ukrainian woman was brutally murdered on a subway. London saw unprecedented crowds protesting the government, demanding change. In Nepal, younger generations rose up, burned the parliament building, and forced out corrupt leadership. All of this unfolds against the backdrop of war between Russia and Ukraine.

These are just a few flashpoints, but they raise the question: how do we process what’s happening? How do we interpret the swirl of events, both globally and in our own lives?

Faith as the Highest Understanding

Hebrews 11:3 tells us that “by faith we understand.”

Faith is not blind — it is the highest form of understanding. There are realities that human reasoning alone cannot fully grasp. Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

The Hebrew word for “understanding” carries the sense of discernment or insight — perceiving what is really happening. We are warned not to rely on our own insight but to acknowledge God intimately, and He promises to smooth out our path.

We Go Beyond Human Reason

Modern culture often exalts the human mind. Think of the Enlightenment and the famous phrase cogito ergo sum — “I think, therefore I am.”

Reason has value, but our supreme allegiance is not to our ability to think. It is to God Himself. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One brings true understanding.

Dallas Willard, in The Divine Conspiracy, reminds us that Jesus is the smartest person who ever lived.

He transformed water into wine, fed thousands with a few loaves and fish, calmed storms, and even raised the dead. He is the cognitive and practical master of all reality — physical, moral, and spiritual. To say “Jesus is Lord” must also mean acknowledging that Jesus is brilliant. He continues to oversee human history.

Wisdom That Penetrates Every Circumstance

A.W. Tozer wrote that Jesus is the "ultimate strategist, the perfect thinker, the one whose wisdom orders all things." John Piper has said that "Jesus’ intelligence is not abstract but always practical — it penetrates every circumstance."

This means He understands international conflicts, cultural upheavals, and national policies. But He also understands your personal challenges: family struggles, work frustrations, opportunities, and decisions.

From the macro of world events to the micro of our individual lives, his wisdom applies.

Faith Opens Our Perception

The Greek New Testament word for understanding, sýnesis, literally means “putting things together.”

Faith enables the Holy Spirit to help us see how the pieces of life fit together. Pattern recognition is one of the highest forms of intelligence, and through faith, God opens our eyes to see patterns, contours, and outlines of what He is doing — even if not yet in full clarity.

All of God’s people are prophetic in this sense, because the "testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10). The Holy Spirit within us helps us perceive and sense our way forward into the future.

Wisdom from Above

James 1 encourages us to ask God for wisdom in trials, and James 3 distinguishes between earthly wisdom and wisdom from above. Earthly wisdom is natural and even demonic. Wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, humble, and willing to yield.

We are not left groping in the dark. We have access to the One who knows the end from the beginning. Instead of saying, “I think, therefore I am,” our allegiance can be, “I belong to God, therefore I am.” "In Him we live, move, and have our being" (Acts 17).

By Faith, We Understand

Ultimately, understanding is more than data — it is spiritual discernment. The highest form of knowledge is the knowledge of the Holy One. There are puzzles and conundrums we cannot solve on our own, but by faith we understand.

So what are the top three challenges you’re facing right now? Instead of leaning on your own understanding, bring them to Jesus, the smartest man who ever lived. He will get into the mix. He will sway your thinking, shape your judgment, and smooth your path.

A Closing Prayer

Holy Spirit, illuminate our minds. Father, grant us Your wisdom. By faith, we understand. Teach us to acknowledge you in all things so that our paths are made straight.

My friend, in Jesus, you are a solver. Don’t be intimidated by the so-called elites or power brokers of this world. They have made a mess of things.

But you have the Holy Spirit, you carry God’s voice within you, and you can grow in the Word, in resonance with Him, and in being led by His Spirit.

Share this episode with someone who needs encouragement. And don’t forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter, the Smart Edit, at JesusSmart.com.

Hey there.

What a week or two it's been, not only in America, but around the world.

Now, whenever you may be listening to this episode, because the world being what it is and it's broken and it's in need of total regeneration, which is what Jesus promised.

The new heavens and a new earth to come.

These geopolitical events or political events, there will be others happening and you can apply it to the time you listen to this as well.

But we're actually going up to the 50,000 foot view and we're going up to high level thinking about this and how we can apply it to the micro of our lives as well as the macro of the geopolitical and the national.

Well, currently of course, I'm referring to what has recently rocked America, the political assassination of Charlie Kirk on a college campus in the state of Utah as he was engaging about 3,000 college students in an outside venue.

We had the brutal and tragic murder of a young Ukrainian woman on a subway in Charlotte, N.C. overseas in Britain, for example, this past weekend we had what appears to be unprecedented record breaking crowds protesting the government in the city of London and they want to change in the government.

We had a situation in the small country of Nepal where younger generations rose up and basically insisted on a new government for various reasons of corruption and policy.

And the parliament building was burned and there's now a new government.

The leader fled.

There's other things happening as well.

We have the war, Ukraine and Russia.

You know, there's.

These are four flashpoints recently that have been on the minds of people and how do we think about this stuff, how do we process it?

And I want to suggest to you that faith isn't blind.

It's the highest form of understanding.

Hebrews 11 says that by faith we understand, but by faith we understand.

There are some things that are just very difficult, if not impossible for us to thoroughly vet and process and understand why it has happened, how it has happened and you know, why these things are occurring.

We're going to talk about that today.

It's not going to be too long, but we're going to address that today.

Welcome to the podcast.

Brian Del Turco, Jesus Smart X Podcast this is episode 351.

We're going to get right to it.

Let me just briefly mention last Week's episode, episode 350, the Jericho Dynamic, if you haven't had a chance to listen to that yet.

Prophetic keys that we see in the Jericho Account in the Old Testament prophetic keys to enter a promised land, a territory, an inheritance that the Lord has for you.

Episode 349 Right before that, success.

God's way, principles, push and tact.

But let's get right to it today.

Episode 351 Faith isn't blind.

Hebrews 11:1 says that it's by faith that we understand that the worlds or the ages in the Greek were prepared by the word of God.

The Amplified renders it as were fashioned, put in order by the word of God, equipped for their intended purpose.

Isn't that good to just lay that over our own personal lives and personal world as well?

This is a stunning statement.

By faith we understand.

So can I be real?

When we think about these things, you know, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the Ukrainian woman, London, Nepal.

We can go on and on and on.

Let's be real, though, there are some things that are just very difficult to process on our own and to come to an understanding.

How do we interpret this?

What is the meaning of this?

Proverbs 3 is pretty clear and reminds us.

And this is really a key verse for this episode.

It says to trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

See the contrast there?

Do not lean on your own understanding, but rather by faith we understand.

It's a different way of understanding.

Do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

You know the Old Testament Bible word for understanding at least one of them by now.

I'm going to pronounce it.

I'm always very challenged with pronunciation of words, Hebrew and Greek and such, but I'm more focused on their meaning.

But.

But it means discernment or insight, the ability to perceive what's really happening.

Okay, understanding in the Hebrew sense.

We are warned not to lean on our own Bah, our own understanding.

Instead, we are to acknowledge God in every situation and he promises to smooth out our pathway.

There's just three Hebrew words in this set of two verses in Proverbs 3, 5 and 6.

And I studied this a long time ago.

I've touched on it many times.

I think it serves us very well.

In all of our ways is a Hebrew word which means all of our activity, all of our pathways of action.

We are to acknowledge the Lord.

Acknowledge here means to really know him by direct intimate contact.

And he will then make our paths straight.

He will smooth them out.

He will straighten what is twisted.

So it's a tremendous proverb or promise in Proverbs 3.

Now we live in a world, in some sense, you could say, which worships the mind, the human mind, in the post enlightenment world.

Okay, when was the Enlightenment in Europe?

And.

And we could also talk about a post American Enlightenment world.

We have an allegiance to human reason.

There was a French philosopher during the 17th century.

He was a mathematician.

He famously said, again, my pronunciation of Latin would not be very good as well, cogito ergo sum.

I think, therefore I am.

So his idea was that we need to emphasize human reason as the foundation for knowledge.

I understand the Enlightenment.

I also understand that theologians would say that one key element of the imago dei, the image of God and man, is our ability to reason.

I think in Isaiah, God exhorts us, come to me.

Let's reason together, Creator and creature, God and human, that partnership.

But faith points us to a higher allegiance than.

Than mere human reason is what I want to say.

Okay?

Our.

Our.

Our supreme loyalty is to the Lord and to authentic wisdom.

I think the Old Testament says, the fear of the Lord, the reverence of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

It also says that knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Our knowledge of God as the Holy One, the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ is understanding.

That is the Christian worldview.

It's trusting the Creator above our limited reasoning.

So again, reasoning and thinking is a key part of the image of God and man.

But it's not our supreme allegiance.

Our supreme allegiance is not the image of God in us.

Even more so it is God himself.

Right?

We're not supremely aligned.

And our supreme allegiance is not to the image of God in us or an aspect of that image, which is the ability to think we're different than the animals.

Okay?

But it is to God himself, the one, that we are imaging.

Our supreme allegiance is to him.

Our loyalty is to the Lord for authentic understanding wisdom.

Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

I'm a ginormous fan of Dallas Willard.

He's with the Lord now, but he taught at the University of Southern California.

He was a charismatic Southern Baptist, teaching in the philosophy department at.

At the University of Southern California.

I mean, imagine all of that coming together in one, in one mix.

But he worked a lot in the area of spiritual disciplines and excellent thinker, author, and I love his book.

I highly encourage it.

The Divine Conspiracy, his book about the Sermon on the Mount.

It's all about the kingdom.

It's phenomenal book.

Phenomenal book.

Okay?

He said in that Book that concerning the brilliance of Jesus.

Jesus knew how to transform the molecular structure of water into wine, right?

John, chapter two.

He could take a few loaves and a few fish and feed thousands.

He knew how to heal the human body, even how to raise the dead.

He could suspend gravity, calm storms, and with just the word, alter creation itself.

He is the cognitive and practical master practical of every phase of reality, physical, moral and spiritual.

So saying Jesus is Lord, he says, means little if we hesitate to say that Jesus is smart, okay?

He is brilliant.

The smartest man who has ever lived on the earth.

And today, listen to this.

He is still supervising the course of human history.

Yes, he is.

While preparing the universe for our future role in it.

He always has the best information on everything, especially the things that matter most in human life.

We could say it this way.

Jesus as that co creator with the Father and Holy Spirit.

He understands human flourishing.

He understands God's story, God's unfolding kingdom.

He understands how things work.

And so when it says in Hebrews 11, three, it's by faith that we understand things.

Not only how the ages were created and everything in them, but we can understand a puzzling conundrum that we're facing.

We can understand a relational dynamic that seems irreconcilable or irresolvable.

Okay?

We can.

We can even understand international relations between nations or national design, national public policy, from the macro to the micro, from the national and geopolitical to the micro of our lives, from the cultural and political assassination of Charlie Kirk, everything that's flowing out of that.

Or our problems with crime and violence in our culture, in our society, our family dysfunction, the rage that is in some in the young generation because they feel frustrated.

They feel that they can't achieve success.

In some cases their minds have been hijacked by an ideology.

He understands all of these things.

They are all solvable, but they are all redeemable.

They are all subject to regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus understands these macro issues as well as the micro issues of our life.

Be open to this possibility, my friend.

And I think it's more than a possibility.

I think it's a probability that when we see these major trends happening in the macro, it's quite likely that they filter down into the micro of our lives.

These same dynamics or templates or God's activity in these macro spaces has applicability in the micro spaces of our personal world because that's where we really bring forth the witness of Christ in His kingdom is from us as people in our Personal world and in our personal sphere of influence.

Have you ever heard of AW Tozer?

He was a pastor and prolific author in Chicago.

He's with the Lord now as well.

He put it this way.

Jesus is the Creator, and His intelligence surpasses all that we can know.

To know him truly is to realize that he is the ultimate strategist, the perfect thinker, the one whose wisdom orders all things.

I love that we can go to Him.

We can trust in him instead of our own understanding.

We don't have to worship the image of God in us when we can worship the One whose image we are bearing.

And we can trust in Him.

Right?

John Piper reminds us that Jesus intelligence is always practical.

Here's what he says.

Jesus intelligence is not abstract, it's always practical.

He knows what will heal, what will save, what will bring glory to God.

His wisdom penetrates every circumstance.

I love that phrase.

His wisdom penetrates every circumstance.

I don't know what you're facing or what opportunity lies before you, what challenges there are along the way, what family system issues you've been wrestling with.

Something like some long arm from the past seems to reach forward into your life.

And there could be something generationally or in your family system that the Lord wants to resolve.

I don't know.

I don't know what.

What you're facing at work, I don't know what you're facing in your business.

I don't know what fork you're at in the pathway of life.

I don't know what's frustrating you, what's making you angry, what's exciting you.

But when we face these things, we aren't guessing in the dark.

We have access.

We have access to this one who knows the end from the beginning about everything.

Now, even when we're facing trials, you know, in James chapter one, it says that we are to consider.

Consider it all joy when we face these various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith is producing endurance, and we can let endurance have its perfect result.

And it says, if we lack anything, we can ask God for wisdom there in James 1.

Yes, trials, of course, will stretch us and.

And they strengthen our faith.

But if in the middle of these challenges, we lack wisdom, the Lord wants to bring us through these trials so that we're not lacking in anything.

It says there in James 1, 2, 4.

And then it says, beginning with verse 5, if we lack anything, we can ask God, and He gives generously to all his wisdom.

James chapter one.

Check it out.

Verses two through eight also go to James three, though While you're in that letter in the New Testament, because James 3 enlightens us and tells us that there is wisdom from below and wisdom from above.

There is wisdom from below, which is earthly, natural or animalistic.

It could be translated and even demonic.

But there is also wisdom from above, which is pure and peace, loving and humble and willing to yield, and so on.

So which wisdom are we going to lean into?

We don't want to rely on what's around us, nor do we want to rely solely on our own ability to reason.

I think, therefore I am.

It's got to be higher than that.

It's our, our.

Our allegiance statement should be something like, I relate to God, therefore I am.

My allegiance is to God, therefore I am.

Paul would say it this way in the Book of Acts.

I think he was preaching to the Athenians there on Acts 17 or 19 or somewhere.

It's in him that we live and move and have our being.

We mentioned the Greek word or the Hebrew word for understanding.

I love the Greek New Testament word as well.

Senesis sounds a lot like synthesized, doesn't it?

It's probably where that comes from.

Literally the New Testament word for understanding, senesis.

And there may be several, but this word literally putting things together is what it means.

Faith allows the Holy Spirit to open our minds so that we can see all pieces fit together.

Pattern recognition is one of the highest forms of intelligence.

And you may not even think of yourselves, let's say, as a spirit filled, charismatic.

You may not even think of somebody who is, you know, open to the spiritual gifts for today.

I don't know, but I still believe.

I told my wife this this morning.

I don't know.

Just we chat in the morning and it wasn't in relation to this episode, but I just said, you know, all of God's people are prophetic, whether they theologically identify with it or not.

Testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

In the book of Revelation, there is something in you.

It is the Holy Spirit that can help you know things and see how things fit together and give you a sense.

You can feel your way forward by faith.

The outlines and contours of your future.

Yes, it may not be in high definition, but at least there's the lines and the contours of it and you can lean into it.

And the Lord will show you, show you, show you, show you as you go.

So here it is, understanding.

You know, I love, you know, political discourse and I love, you know, cultural dialogue and, you know, international geopolitical.

I'm kind of bent that way.

Kind of.

Kind of too strong, to be honest with you.

But listen, our understanding of anything is more than data.

It is spiritual discernment.

This is what we have access to.

It's wisdom from above.

And the entry point, the door to that is what faith.

Hebrews 11:3.

For us, it's by faith that we understand.

I'm not saying don't read books, don't be educated, you know, don't do research.

I'm all for that, probably to a fault.

However, the highest form of understanding, the highest form of knowledge is the knowledge of the Holy One, which gives us understanding and wisdom.

And it's by faith that we understand.

There are some things that are just too intractable.

They are beyond our processing speed.

We can't figure it out.

It is by faith that we must understand it so we can access God's higher intelligence.

Our allegiance is not to mere thought or human reason.

It's to the Lord.

Today, let's acknowledge him in everything.

Make a list of what.

What are your top three conundrums right now?

You're.

You're, you know, a puzzle wrapped in an.

In an enigma.

You can't solve it.

You can't figure it out.

You don't know what lever to pull.

You don't know how to proceed on it.

Don't lean on your own processing.

Trust the smartest man who ever lived.

He will get into the mix.

Pray, read his word, pick up his voice signature, pick up the resonance of the Holy Spirit.

He will get into the mix.

And can I tell you, he gets into the mix and he begins to sway your understanding and your judgment.

And sometimes it's going to feel like you're thinking it, but it's not just you.

It's you and him together, thinking it and seeing it.

He's the master of molecules.

He's supervising history.

We can watch him smooth out our path.

I hope you've enjoyed this, Holy Spirit, and benefited from it.

And I'm challenging myself, too, as I look at the notes on my screen.

I'm, in a sense, looking into a mirror always.

But Holy Spirit, we do thank you that you would give us illumination and understanding.

And, Father, that you would give us your wisdom.

By faith, we understand.

And that we would not lean on our own selves or the understanding of others, but that we would lean into you, Lord, in all things, acknowledging you, knowing you by direct, intimate contact.

And you will smooth and straighten all of our course of activity, all of our scenarios, all of our situations.

We give you glory, Lord, that There is hope for this.

In Jesus name, Amen.

My friend.

In Jesus, you are a solver.

Yes you are.

Don't be intimidated by the quote, elites of this world, power brokers, because they've made a mess of things.

You have the Holy Spirit, you have God's voice in you.

You have resonance with heaven.

And you can increase on all of these edges.

You can increase in the Word, you can increase with resonance.

You can increase with being led by the Holy Spirit.

Don't underestimate what Jesus in you can do, the solutions and answers that he can bring.

I appreciate you.

If you know of anyone who would you think might value and be encouraged by this particular episode, please, please share it with them.

I also have a newsletter called the Smart edit.

Go to jesussmart.com and there will be a form there that you can go ahead and sign up for it or, or search the Smart Edit online.

And yeah, an issue just went out today and we do it every week.

There's some with the grace of the Lord, we believe some good things there.

Okay.

I appreciate you.